Tag Archives: wealth creation

I used to be crazy busy all the time; it was my way of living. Some of us think that we’re not serving to our full capacity if we’re not in constant motion. Probably it’s part of that Puritan work ethic that still permeates our culture.

I still have many busy days, but I balance them with lots of lazy stretches, from an hour off to a full week-end of vegetation. The big shift is to enjoy and see the value in time off, rather than feeling guilty for not being busy.

Showing my clients how to take time to do nothing, or time to have fun, is a big part of my coaching. The tool I’m sharing with you in this blog post works every single time. And it’s free.

Personally, I have two coaches for this: Prince, the toy poodle, and my teenage son. If my son were any more relaxed than he already is, he’d be in a coma. I think most dogs are accomplished nap coaches, so if a canine shares your space, take a laziness cue from him.

Why has being lazy become so important to me? Entrepreneurs and mothers are supposed to burn the candle at both ends and that was my modus operandi for years! I was proud to be exhausted and burned out.

Here’s the thing. Perpetual motion keeps you in a rut. There can be no breakthrough without R and R.

That’s why my word to serve as my theme for 2010 is “ease.” I’ve had a lot of fun with it, especially with my teaching.

If you’re new to laziness, you need to know that, like any other life skill, it takes practice to attain mastery.

Here’s your basic laziness training exercise:

Take 15 minutes to do nothing.

Doing nothing means no thinking, no reading, no texting, no talking, no praying, no worrying, no listening to your Ipod…not even reading this blog. You just gotta sit there and be a vegetable for 15 minutes. Set a timer on your cell phone, in case you fall asleep. 😉

You’ll hate it at first. Feels unproductive, almost unAmerican.

Stick with it. Your mind will try to convince you that this is the first step on the path to a mental breakdown. It’s not.

Do this at least 5 times a week.

Here’s what you’ll get from doing 15 minutes of nothing on a regular basis:

You relax.

You smile.

Your creativity activates.

You feel so much better. And other people will notice!

Learning to activate your own “pause” button is a powerful tool to experience breakthroughs in your life. Try it and share what happens.

Don’t confuse me with Suzy Orman. I’m an academic entrepreneur and coach and mom and a bit lazy but I do love creating wealth. Here are some random-but-important lessons I’ve learned along the way. You can share what you know by responding and make it better for everyone.

1. I am already wealthy. So are you. Even King Solomon did not have indoor plumbing, running hot water or coffee.

2. Creating wealth is a noble enterprise; it’s not the same as getting wealth.

3. Saving and investing each month is a healthy discipline.

4. You can be careful with your money and be high maintenance at the same time. (It just takes creativity!)

5. What you say about money affects your wealth.

6. Being truly happy for people who have even more than you do helps everyone.

7. Without extra cash, you can’t have much of an impact on the world.

8. Hiring people to help you helps them and the whole community.

9. Money is not evil.

10. I largely determine how much I get paid. You do the same.

11. Downtime is extremely valuable to me.

12. Money is replaceable; time is not.

13. Investing in yourself ALWAYS pays you back.

14. Choosing poverty is not necessarily a virtue.

15. Good health is a valuable form of wealth.

16. I constantly increase the value of my contribution to the world. Don’t you?

17. There is plenty of wealth on this planet for everyone.

18. Money favors speedy decisions.

19. A person can’t make and keep more money than she thinks she deserves.

20. Being calm and relaxed about your finances helps you build your wealth.

21. Everyone likes to buy stuff.

22. If you charge too little for your services, people are more likely to find fault with you.

23. There is always a market for Cartier.

24. Money flows toward confidence.

25. Knowledge is incredibly valuable.

26. If you don’t invest in yourself, then how can you expect others to do so?

27. It’s not about the numbers in your bank account; it’s how you feel about what you have.

Is money the root of all evil? Is the love of money the root of all evil? Why do teachers earn less than welders?

It’s worthwhile to ponder these questions. If you’re like me, you may have some ideas about money that actually keep it away from you. Like being too intellectual to make extra money.

Notice how you feel as you read these statements.

1. At least I have a job.

Is that the best you can say? Do you not enjoy what you do? Are you contributing at the level you’d like to?

You hear this a lot these days. Gratitude is a great attitude to have. However, if you’re really grateful and happy with your job, you’re probably more likely to think, What a great job I have!

2. Teachers are underpaid.

Really? Then why are we teachers? How many occupations allow as much free time as teachers enjoy? For a long time I was too afraid to try something else, maybe you are, too.

What really determines the value of any job? Education is a beautiful thing of wonder, but certainly today any committed person can experience a phenomenal education without ever entering an institutional school.

Teachers make a trade: job security in exchange for playing the educational institution game. There are other ways to teach, like corporate training and personal coaching, that pay far more; these kinds of teachers also know how to market themselves in a more profitable way.

If you honestly think you’re not being paid what you deserve, then why aren’t you doing something else?

3. I’m a mom, first.

This was so me for so long. I never imagined that I could both spend time with my kids and make serious income. That paradigm was outside of my imagination. Today “mom-preneuring” is all over the place so others are showing us that having time at home is not mutually exclusive to making good income.

The bottom line.

If you’re perfectly satisfied with your income and net worth, there is nothing to think about. Otherwise, take a moment and write out all the assumptions you can think about that are related to money and wealth creation.

If you’re not sure, write out some possible assumptions. Then go through and ask yourself, “Is it absolutely positively and always true?” You might surprise yourself.

Working with Christine Kane who turned my finances around. She helped me see that even a divorced, home-schooling, academic like me could make serious income without jumping through other people’s hoops. (Been there…)

If you’re in business, have a side business, or are thinking about making money, sign up for my mentor Christine Kane’s upcoming FREE teleseminar, called “Uplevel Your Business: 5 Simple Ways to Create Your Wealthiest Year Yet.” I’ll be there. Here’s the link to register. http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=998092 (It’s free even though it says “shopping cart.’) I will definitely be on this call.

Do you remember certain people from high school, the ones you knew would make boat loads of money? And they did.

I remember in particular a couple of guys at my high school, one who was set on becoming a rich medical doctor since middle school, and he’s, well, loaded. Another guy, the wheeler-dealer type, took over his dad’s business and made it grow like crazy. Then there were the pretty cheerleaders who were destined to marry guys like these.

The thinking was, and still is for most people, that certain people are just made for creating wealth. Conversely there are other people, the nice smart ones, who are made for just getting by. Our work is to shrink our desires to fit our incomes.

We get to be teachers.

That was my path, maybe you can relate.

What I’ve discovered is that the people who make money are the people who simply commit to doing so. That includes musicians without a label, therapists, nurses, employees of any type, writers, and yes, even teachers!

I wrote a little bit about wealth creation for nice people a few weeks ago. It was called “What Clarity and Confidence Have to Do with Wealth.” You can read that here.

If this interests you, I want you to know is that the new material that I’ve added to Real Life Clarity 101: the e-course is all about wealth creation for nice and smart people. It’s not about selling narcotics on the side; it’s about living in a different way that allows you to experience more abundance. It’s a process, not an event.

I’m also including a special report about delegating and outsourcing. One way to make more money quickly is to have someone else do your work. That’s what this report is about, “The Wealth Creator’s Guide to Getting Other People to Do Your Job.”

It’s kinda like what Tom Sawyer did when he got his buddies to paint the white fence for me. Remember?

Anyway, just thought I’d let you know. The report isn’t quite finished yet; it’s a lot longer than I thought it would be.

You get yours free when you sign up for Real Life Clarity 101: the e-course. (As soon as I finish it.)

Early-bird discount ends Thursday. You can read more about the e-course here. I’m excited about it!